Juneteenth: The Good News Will Not Rest Until Everyone Has Heard!

This Sunday turns out to be Juneteenth, a holiday traditionally connected with the African-American community that I first became acquianted with with through colleagues and congregations that were predominantly African-American.  I am thankful and inspired to celebrate the holiday with my African-American friends.

There are many ways to engage and learn from a culture different than your own.  One important way is to learn the "formative stories" that have shaped that community.  The Exodus was a formative story for Israel.  The Plymouth Pilgrims serves(ed?) that way in the United States.  The History of Juneteenth is that formative story for African-Americans.  One that can shape us all for the better.

The Story And Some Context

On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln, in one of the most important and audacious moves in American history, declared the Emancipation Proclamation.  In effect, he declared the enslaved people of a foreign country - the Confederate Southern States - to be free.  This was in the depths of the Civil War at a time that the battle was not going well for Federal troops.

The War would continue in all it's death and fury from that day.  Ponder Chancellorsville and the death of Stonewall Jackson, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Sherman's March to the Sea and so much more.  Blood and battle for more than two years until Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865 when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.  Later that week, on Good Friday, President Abraham Lincoln would be assinated by John Wilkes Booth.

It would be another two more months AFTER Lincoln's assassination, on June 19, 1865 - nearly two and one-half years after the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation - that Major General Gordon Granger and his Union Troops would arrive in Galveston, Texas and deliver the message: "The Civil War is now over!"  The Union had won and would now enforce the end of chattel slavery throughout the United States.

Having been declared free on January 1, 1863, the enslaved people and the legal structures that held them, were not finally free throughout the country until another two and one-half years of costly battle.  Juneteenth is the holiday marking the arrival of that news to all the people it was meant for and the final establishment of freedom in fact, and not just word.

"The Good News Will Not Rest Until Everyone Has Heard!"

I have heard those words, or words like them, ring out in church celebrations of Juneteenth, and I am thankful to be moved by them every time.  I am reminded of the cost and perseverance that it took to not only declare an end to chattel slavery in the United States, but to make it the law of the land.  I am sobered to see in the history that followed, how diligent we must be to maintain and extend that freedom to all people over time and circumstance.  I am saddened at how often we have failed in that diligence.

Finally, I'm reminded of the Gospel of God's Grace and how the unfinished task of the Great Commission calls me to faithful service: "The Good News Will Not Rest Until Everyone Has Heard!"  

A Sermon For The Holiday

While preparing to lead Celebration-Harderwyk in worship this Sunday coinciding with Juneteenth, I came across an address worth sharing by one of my favorite American preachers: Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  

I recognize that the unbelieving world would only notice our differences.  We are from different generations and historical contexts.  He is Black and I am white.  Over the years of reading his books and sermons though, I have come to hear in him the voice of a senior mentor and even colleague.  We are both pastors in the local church setting.  We have each baptized people into the faith, served the Lord's Supper, exposited the Scriptures, balanced budgets, run Sunday Schools, enjoyed potlucks and repented of our ongoing sin.  He was also called to a national platform that has shaped the Gospel into me and perhaps through me into the congregations I serve.

Here is a closing paragraph from an April 25, 1957 speech by Dr. King with more information and link to the entire sermon below.  You will note that I've maintained his language and the style of reference common to that time.

The Negro leader must stress the fact that the aim of the Negro should never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. We must make it clear that it is injustice which we seek to defeat and not persons who may happen to be unjust. We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. Our motto must be, “Freedom and justice through love.” Not through violence; not through hate; no not even through boycotts; but through love. As we struggle for freedom in America it may be necessary to boycott at times. But we must remember as we boycott that a boycott is not an end within itself; it is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor and challenge his false sense of superiority. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. The type of love that I stress here is not eros, a sort of esthetic or romantic love; not philia, a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends; but it is agape which is understanding goodwill for all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It is the love of God working in the lives of men. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization. God grant that the leadership of the Negro race will remain true to these basic principles.

• Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. - "The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma," Address Delivered on 25 April 1957 at the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations in Nashville, TN.  CLICK HERE for the entire manuscript

And if you have read this far, I'll say with a smile, that another way to learn of and from another culture is to share the food that they love (and make!) around their table.  For Juneteenth, it's ribs!!  Grace Abounding to Dr. Raymond Franklin, all the brothers and sisters of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Chruch in Alexandria, LA, and to the Tuesday Night Prayer Warriors.  Thanks so much for your many invitations and grace.

Added June 24, 2024

CLICK HERE for ‘Been So Long Praying’: 4 Reasons Why I Observe Juneteenth by Steve Bateman

Some will complain that Juneteenth is too close to Independence Day, distracting from celebrating our nation’s birthday. But maybe we need this reminder that on July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson’s claim that “all men are created equal” didn’t include his slaves at Monticello. And no one can say that Jefferson, or any of the slaveholding founders, hadn’t been warned. Other Christians had been calling out the hypocrisy for years.

Considering both Independence Days together is a truer analogy of how the good news spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. The initial impediment to the gospel’s advance was ethnocentric pride. The gospel isn’t just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles, and there’s no partiality with God.